The journey to Mizuha was long and muddy.
Despite the terrain, and skeletal-like forests, the group traveled fast. Mumei was setting a punishing pace, which would have been taxing if it weren't for their past month's training.
On the second afternoon, the smell hit them. It was like the smell of a morgue. Then what struck them was the silence. Even in the fields, there was no beast, no farmer in sight. Everything spoke volume of the affliction that had rained down Mizuha.
The village emerged from the mist: a cluster of perhaps thirty huts built on stilts over murky water. The rice paddies around it were yellow-grey, the water grey. No children played. The only movement was the slow, pained passing of hunched figures between huts.
[C-Rank Mission - Mizuha Sickness Investigation
The Mizuha village has been afflicted with a sickness. Despite two Amegakure General Corps Cell sent out, no intel about the cause has been identified, and the previous takers of the missions never returned.
Task: Find the root cause behind Mizuha's sickness (0 / 1)
Rewards: 1000 EXP, 10 Dark Hall Promotion Points, 20 000 Ryô, +20 Reputation with the Dark Hall Tower, +30 Reputation with Team 11]
The blue screen appeared again. This was strange. There was no mention of enemy shinobi. Perhaps the cause was not enemy shinobi, but something else?
But then again, the system was anything but omniscient. Many times, reading books had changed the mission's rewards as he realized its true value. Worse still, he would usually gain more proficiency when training by actually experimenting with jutsu than mindlessly practicing them through the repeatable quests.
There was but one thing that the system did well, and that was the appraisal of items.
So maybe the reason why he could not rely on the system was the fact that he had found no evidence of enemy shinobi presence? If that was true, then the value of the system was smaller than he had expected. It meant that he would not be able to extract information from it, like he could from items.
For instance, if the real cause of the sickness was enemy poisoning, but they found no trace of that and believed it, then the mission would end like that, and the enemy shinobi would get away with it. He might even get rewarded from it, like in real life? In that sense, the system was quite weak.
'But any limitation the system has, the 236 other players also have it...Interesting. Maybe I should capture one fellow player and use the interrogation techniques Mumei-sensei taught us to compare my hypothesis with theirs?', he thought inwardly
A hunched man approached them. He was old, his hands and body exhausted from a life of labour.
[Village Elder Polske - Lv. 2 Civilian]
'Weak...', he analysed, 'Definitely not the suspect behind the genin's disappearance'
"Are you the delegation sent by Amegakure?", the old man spoke
Mumei activated a subtle sensory technique, his eyes scanning the village's chakra flow. Only then did he answer the old man: "Indeed. Are you Polske, the one who sent the request?"
The elder bowed: "My apologies, I have lost my manner. Please come inside my house. I may not have a lot, but surely it will be more pleasing than the murky soil around here"
Ameruyi and Tetsu thanked the man, and followed him.
Following them, Mumei spoke: "Your thoughts?"
Ryugo expected this. Over the past month, Mumei had been impressed more than once by his sharp analysis. However, there was little to get from this alone.
"I don't have much for now. The elder seems innocent, but let's try to find clues or truths he might omit in his speech. After all, two genin cells disappeared. Let's stay on guard"
For a moment, Mumei forgot that he was the sensei in charge of the mission. Even then, he could not help but agree with Ryugo's analysis.
'The boy is growing fast', he thought, acknowledging Ryugo's cold blood.
Even he felt creeped out by the village's atmosphere. The children looked famished and the farmers were weak, developing fevers and staying home. It was a horrible situation, and if it spread to the nearby villages, it could even have lasting consequences.